State College’s start to the fall sports season delayed with Mid Penn Conference decision
Last week the PIAA gave its member schools the leeway to begin seasons at their own pace during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. On Monday, the Mid Penn Conference announced it would be taking advantage of that option.
The Mid Penn announced the earliest its schools may begin formal fall practice is Sept. 4, pending local board approvals. The conference announced the decision with a press release, and said more information would be released after Thursday’s meeting between all of the conference’s athletic directors.
The decision means State College will not be able to start its preseason practices for another month. The school’s football program began its voluntary offseason workouts July 15.
According to the PIAA’s plan recommendations it released last week, football teams — and most other fall sports — may not compete in contests until they’ve completed three weeks of preseason practice. That would push the potential start date for the State College football season back to Sept. 25, at the earliest.
Football teams are allowed to begin “heat acclimatization” on Aug. 10 and other fall sports can begin practice Aug. 17, but each school district is allowed to set its own schedule, as long as it falls in line with the guidelines the PIAA released at the end of July.
“In addressing the COVID-19 crisis and how it has affected the 67 counties differently, PIAA understands the flexibility needed by school districts to make localized measured decisions, rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach in addressing interscholastic athletics,” the PIAA said in a release last week. “To aid our school districts who have varied approaches to their return to school plans, PIAA has offered flexibility to schools, leagues, and/or conferences to begin contests after the first contest date.”
The Little Lions had four games scheduled prior to Sept. 25. Those four contests — against Mifflin County and Hollidaysburg at home and Downington East and Chambersburg on the road — will not take place as scheduled in accordance with the Mid Penn’s decision.
The game against Mifflin County — scheduled for Aug. 28 — would have been the Little Lions’ first at the newly renovated Memorial Field.
